1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for managing and searching information in a mobile terminal and methodology for constructing the method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for analyzing information stored or newly received in a mobile terminal to construct a hypertext network for related information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as mobile devices are rapidly developed, they have had more and more ability. The mobile devices refer to mobile terminals including mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones and portable digital assistants (PDAs). For example, similar to personal computers (PCs), most of the recently manufactured smart phones come with a built-in operating system capable of providing a platform to software providers. Mobile terminals with no built-in operating system also have basic functions related to a telephone call and functions including Email, Internet, Music and Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as a camera function. In accordance with such a tendency, current mobile terminals store not only telephone numbers or short message service (SMS) messages, like conventional mobile terminals, but also various pieces of information including Photograph, Music, Moving Picture, Schedule, Note, Email and the like.
Given the increased volume and diversity of the information available on and through mobile phones, it is very important to search information in the mobile terminals Mobile terminals are frequently used as a means for easily storing information at any place in any time. Since information stored in a mobile terminal may be used later by a user, it is generally stored in the mobile terminal without deletion for a certain period of time.
Information search in a mobile terminal has both constraint factors caused by the limited size of the mobile terminal and opportunity factors characterized by easy portability. That is, a small-sized screen of the mobile terminal serves as a constraint factor in which a large amount of information cannot simultaneously be displayed on the screen. In addition, an uncomfortable input interface of the mobile terminal serves as a constraint factor in information search as compared with PCs. Hence, it is reported that high-end search functions in the mobile terminal are not frequently used and that search words inputted by a user are shorter than those inputted by using a keyboard in a general PC.
On the other hand, various attempts have been made to allow a user to perform an easy search. That is, studies have been conducted to provide a query completion function on a search window of a search engine similar to a conventional search engine, to provide frequently used queries to users in advance, or to provide a convenient search interface. However, among theses studies, there is no study for analyzing information (user information, information received by a user, information stored by the user, and the like), stored in a mobile terminal, to provide related information. In the recently manufactured smart phones, information may be obtained through a keyword-based search, regardless of services (SMS, e-mail, album and the like). However, as the amount of information in the smart phones is increased, the number of results obtained through a simple keyword-based search is also increased, and there is a limitation in simultaneously displaying all the searched results on a display.